“Stop! What do you think you’re going to do?” Bai Qingyan called out to stop Bai Jintong without even turning her head.
“Heaven is unjust to our Bai family! Our Bai family has been loyal for generations, protecting the Kingdom and serving the people. Why have we ended up like this? I’ll risk this life of mine to kill that dog emperor! Kill Liu Huanzhang’s entire family!” Bai Jintong’s hatred reached the heavens. She wished she could tear a hole in the sky itself and make all of Great Jin be buried with all the men of her Bai family.
“By risking your life, can you avenge all the men of the Bai family?!” She turned her head, her bloodshot eyes looking at Bai Jintong. “And then what?!”
“Then what?!” Bai Jintong bit through her gums.
“Kill Liu Huanzhang’s entire family? Then can you go kill Prince Xin? Can you kill the emperor? Even if you were invincible and succeeded, what would happen to the remaining women of our Bai family?! The great crime of regicide… do you want the women of our Bai family to also be buried along with your reckless courage born of anger?! I know you’re not afraid of death… but are you afraid of having no face to meet your grandfather after death? No face to meet your father!”
Seeing Bai Jintong’s lips trembling and her eyes filled with hopeless melancholy, she felt deeply moved. She forcibly suppressed the towering hatred and rage in her heart, tearfully advising with patient guidance: “Grandmother is the current dynasty’s Grand Princess. If you kill Prince Xin and the emperor, how will you face your grandmother?!”
Bai Jintong’s chest full of towering fury deflated like air leaking out. Her entire body went limp as she supported herself against the door and sank to her knees, tears streaming down her face: “But why should our Bai family end up like this! The Bai family saved the tens of thousands of people of Great Jin, but who will save our family of loyal bones!”
“The courage of a reckless man can be possessed by anyone…” She bent down to pick up the bamboo scroll that had fallen to the ground, carefully rolling it up and placing it on the redwood writing desk. “Killing is easiest, and also most foolish!”
“Eldest sister, do you have a plan in mind?” Bai Jinxiu suppressed the grief in her heart and asked hoarsely.
“Military strategy says: ‘Those skilled in warfare seek victory through strategic advantage.’ We have no power in the court and are isolated and weak. We can only use the situation and public sentiment to seek justice for the heroic spirits of our Bai family.”
She threw the figurine on horseback, wielding a sword into the brazier. Sparks flew as flames suddenly leaped up, reflecting red in her bone-chillingly cold dark pupils.
With towering hatred burning in her eyes, Bai Qingyan had already calmed down and composed herself. Bai Jintong and Bai Jinxiu’s chest full of rage and grief that blamed heaven and resented earth also gradually stabilized.
With a backbone to rely on, one no longer felt so helpless and at a loss.
Watching the flames consume that small figurine completely, she lowered her voice: “In Qinghui Courtyard, crying is enough! We have an elderly grandmother above and young sisters below! Fifth aunt is also pregnant! So we cannot… and must not be weak as mud, falling unable to rise! We must stand and help support mother and the aunts, holding up the Bai family!”
Bai Jintong and Bai Jinxiu felt that although Bai Qingyan was frail and thin from illness, her gaze was scorchingly intense, with such great strength that people felt they could trust and rely on her.
“Jintong understands!” Bai Jintong said through gritted teeth.
“Jinxiu understands!” Bai Jinxiu responded with a choked voice.
“I’ll speak to my mother. Jinxiu, you speak to second aunt… Jintong, you go to the third aunt!” Bai Qingyan’s voice was unsteady.
Although Bai Jinxiu was born of a concubine, she had been raised alongside Bai Jinzhi under Li Shi’s care all these years and had long regarded Li Shi as her birth mother.
“Don’t mention the bamboo scrolls. They are our Bai family’s most important trump card.” She pondered for a moment, then added, “Tomorrow, on New Year’s Eve night, news of grandfather and the others’ deaths in battle will arrive. Prepare early!”
She closed her eyes… it was on New Year’s Eve night in her previous life when the news arrived, and the Bai family’s desperate cries rang out amid the brilliant fireworks in the sky! Closing her eyes, she could see the entire Duke’s Mansion shrouded in misery and dejection.
The three sisters embraced each other, tears flowing like threads.
An hour later, Bai Jintong and Bai Jinxiu left Qinghui Courtyard in a daze. The maids of Qinghui Courtyard also hurried back into the courtyard to heat water and prepare basins to serve Bai Qingyan in washing and changing clothes.
This morning’s incident of Chun Tao frantically running to Bitong Garden to fetch Bai Jintong, then driving all the maids and servants outside Qinghui Courtyard, had inevitably spread. Before Bai Qingyan had time to go find Dong Shi, Dong Shi had already arrived at Qinghui Courtyard.
Entering the main room and seeing Bai Qingyan safe and sound, changing clothes, Dong Shi immediately breathed a sigh of relief, pressing a handkerchief to her chest: “Did something happen early this morning? Why did you urgently have Chun Tao go find Jintong?”
Bai Qingyan looked at Dong Shi sitting down on the soft couch and waved her hand to dismiss Chun Tao and the others.
“Mother…” Bai Qingyan sat beside Dong Shi, taking her arm as her eyes reddened again. The words came to her lips, but she hesitated, not knowing how to begin. She could only keep calling Dong Shi: “Mother! Mother…”
“What’s wrong with you?” Dong Shi looked at her daughter’s dejected appearance as she swallowed her tears, her smile somewhat stiff. Her heart began to have an ominous premonition. After all, her eldest daughter had always been steady and resolute—when had she ever shown red eyes and tears before her?
“Mother…” She took a deep breath and looked up, tears already falling like broken strings. She gripped Dong Shi’s arm with all her strength, choking out: “Grandfather, father… and little brother, they won’t be coming back! The military report will probably arrive tomorrow.”
Dong Shi was so shocked by this earth-shattering news that she couldn’t recover for a long time. Her mind went blank, her face colorless, her tailbone felt numb from the shock, and she nearly slid off the soft couch.
“Mother…” Bai Qingyan held Dong Shi tight. “Mother, don’t be afraid! A’Bao is still here!”
She cried uncontrollably. In front of her mother, she still couldn’t help it. She had thought that when she returned… with the advantage of foresight, she could at least fight the King of Hell, if not to a draw, then at least save one… even just one!
Hearing Bai Qingyan’s voice, Dong Shi came slightly to her senses. Her reddened eyes moved, tightly gripping the handkerchief in her hand, restraining her tears. After a long while, she reached out to embrace Bai Qingyan, saying hoarsely, “Your father and brother were born into a military family of merit. When they went to the battlefield, Mother was already prepared for this. Once your father returned victorious with his son, and mother could host a banquet to celebrate their achievements. Now that they’ve died wrapped in horse hide, mother can also arrange their funeral affairs! A’Bao, don’t be afraid… Mother is the mistress of this Duke’s Mansion! Mother can hold on!”
In her previous life, when the news arrived, grandmother fainted… the aunts and sisters cried together, but her mother was the one who held up the collapsed sky of the Bai family. She remembers it clearly to this day.
Although mother knew no martial arts and had never been to a battlefield, she was more resilient and strong than those iron-blooded men. Otherwise, she wouldn’t have left behind that “Letter Questioning the Emperor” and resolutely committed suicide with her aunts.
But mother’s husband and son had both died in Nan Jiang—how bitter and painful must her heart be?! She knew her mother was holding on with a single breath. It wasn’t that she could hold on… but that she knew, as the mistress, she had to hold on.
Bai Qingyan held Dong Shi: “Mother, it’s alright… In front of A’Bao, mother doesn’t need to force herself! A’Bao will accompany mother… always accompany mother.”